“It’s a very good feeling, would like to thank the Almighty, and would like to say thanks to everybody, especially my girlfriend,” says Man of the Match Shimron Hetmyer. “Positivity was important, I had to keep going and my captain encouraged me. It (playing off the backfoot) was (a ploy). Stay as deep as possible. (Jersey no. 189) is my highest score in any cricket.”

“He (Hetmyer) played a fearless innings tonight, that’s what we need at the top in any team,” says Andre Rusell. “He backed himself and played to his strengths. Credit to him. Going to the crease and batting, bowlers bowling with nothing happening, no swing, and the crowd’s behind you.. I didn’t feel like it was a home game, it felt like I was playing in Guyana. After the runout is when everything changed, and things started happening. Once you have a good thing going, just try to keep that going as long as possible. Overall a very good game, we pulled it back with the ball. I thought we’d be chasing 240. With the batters we have, we should have got the total.”

“Even my last few years when I played for Barbados, you could see a lot of Guyanese people here,” says winning captain Shoaib Malik. “I think it’s a good thing. If you’re playing in America and you see a full crowd, it’s always a good sign. Against a good team, 150 or 160 is not good enough. I told Hetmyer, if the ball is in your zone, keep hitting; if it’s not just rotate the strike.”